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If you’re on this site, we assume you like trains. But if you really like trains then this is the trip for you – straight through, non-stop, Beijing to Moscow via Manchuria on the longest international train journey in the world. You will stop, but for no more than 20 minutes at any one point, but what you’ll be rewarded with is a tremendously leisurely sense of Europe slowly transforming into Asia. So, sit back, relax and let the train do the work as you cross seven time zones and cover an extraordinary 8986 km. This trip offers the opportunity to end your journey in St. Petersburg, where you will see the contrast between the imperial splendour and the soviet simplicity that existed both then and now.

DAY 01 – Arrival in Beijing

On arrival in Beijing you make your own way to the hotel – any taxi driver will quickly find the address. The convenient location of the hotel positions you to get the most of this legendary Imperial city. The hotel is in the heart of the golden area of the capital, surrounded by major business centres, tourist attractions and only minutes away from the Wangfujing Street, Tiannamen Square and the Forbidden City.

DAY 02 – Departing Beijing

Own transport to Beijing Central Station where you will board the Moscow bound train.

DAY 03-07 – On board The Trans-Siberian

On board The Trans-Sib… the dining car is the heart of social life on the train. It functions as bar, lounge, and take-out snack store, as well as a café serving reasonably-priced meals. It is a great place to meet fellow travellers and locals alike, sharing your experiences of your journey so far with a few drinks, which no doubt will include some Vodka – and maybe smoked salmon and caviar too!

DAY 08 – Arrival in Moscow

Arrival in Moscow. Your driver will meet you at the end of the platform and you will travel by private car to the Panorama 3★ Hotel. (We can obtain rates for superior hotels ask a member of the reservations team for details.) Your complimentary InfoPack is full of ideas for getting the most out of your free time.

DAY 09 – Around Moscow

After breakfast one of our local experts will meet you at your hotel in the lobby for a three hour walking and familiarisation tour, to introduce the city (and its public transport system) and to get your sightseeing off to a flying start. The rest of the day’s your own.

DAY 10 – Departing Moscow

A full day to continue your sightseeing. Own transfer this evening to Leningradsky Station where you will board the St. Petersburg bound train.

DAY 11 – Arrival in St. Petersburg

Early morning arrival in St. Petersburg. Our driver will be there to meet you at the end of the platform, and will be holding a meeting-board with your name on. You’ll then be transferred to the Vesta 3★ Hotel. (We can obtain rates for superior hotels ask a member of the reservations team for details.) Around 10am your guide will meet you at the hotel and introduce you to the city’s highlights – a good basis for starting your own explorations. Although the public transport (used on today’s excursion) is similar to Moscow’s, there are a few quirks that your guide will show you. After lunchtime you’re on your own to explore further.

DAY 12 – Explore St. Petersburg

Free day for you to pack in the best of the rest! Perhaps you have pre-booked one of our city based excursions for today. Some of our top suggestions (please check opening times/days before setting off) The Hermitage Collection – Winter Palace. The canals and waterways of the “Northern Venice”. The Russian Museum of Fine Art. The Peter & Paul Fortress-and the Tombs of the Tsars inside the Fortress Cathedral. The Church on the Spilt Blood, nearby the Souvenir Bazaar.

DAY 13 – End of Trans-Siberian journey

You will need to check out of your room by 12 noon. Own transport to the airport or station on departure.

Extras

The journey you have chosen has some “extras” that are necessary and then “extras that will enhance your trip. We cannot re-iterate too much that at Russia Experience we pride ourselves on making the trip you have chosen the best it can be – so if we don’t mention something you want, ask us and we’ll try our best to make it happen! In return, we try to inform you about any great “extras” along the way, so that you have the chance to try them if you want! Visas are a necessary extra and needed for all the countries you travel through and the current costs and what is needed can be found under Visas.

Upgrading to 2- berth compartment

Upgrading to 2- berth compartment on the train is also an option, you will see under Prices. This service is becoming more popular every year and not helped by the train operators only confirming this request 30 days or less prior to your departure. We have however devised a workaround for this that’s proving very reliable. We request a 2-berth at the time of booking but if this comes back not possible we block out a 4-berth compartment for 2 person occupancy. The standard of these cabins remains the same, and you get the extra space and privacy one way or the other.

Starting or ending in China

We have a range of services for passengers wanting to stay or continue their journey into China at the start or end of their journey.

We’re settling back in after our big adventure. What a time we had! Would recommend and would do it again 🙂

Sorry it’s taken me too long to get in touch to thank you for everything. But thank you!! For your help setting things up and for being reactive throughout our many email trails over the last few months. It made everything so much simpler for us.

It’s definitely not a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience – we will do it again in a few years, trying a different route and some different stops along the way. It’s simply too big a deal not to have another go!

I can give you specific feedback on trains, hotels, destinations, if it interests or helps you. (In short, Mongolia was incredibly beautiful, Tomsk lovely, Moscow even better than I imagined. The train standards were a bit of a mixed bag – the Russian ones good, the Chinese and Mongolian ones not so. There are a few things I’d highly recommend, such as a couple of our hotels)

Your ticketing was seamless, and I’ve already recommended your booking services to a friend planning to travel in the summer.

So yeah, we’ve had a super time. Pretty serious come-down now!

Carrie

Carrie Milne

Hi Odette and Joanne,

I came back home last Wednesday evening, after a total of five weeks and about 7000 miles of railway track!

Just wanted to send you a message with a big THANK YOU for all your help, and with your incredible patience and flexibility when I was changing my mind and my plans.

And when I was panicking about things, like passport and visa. 🙂

Everything went well, it was a fantastic experience. The train tickets were all delivered on time to my accommodation. In Beijing, I figured out how to take public transport to Mutyanu to visit the Great Wall – absolutely amazing feeling to really be there! In Ulan Batar, I stayed at Zaya Hostel, super accommodation and very helpful, done a nice day trip to the Chenggis Khan statue and the National Park. In Irkutsk, I looked around in the city and also took a public minibus to go to Listvyanka, where I went for a dog sledding trip, really really nice. I’ve seen the lowest temperature of my entire trip in Irkutsk: minus 35!! After that, Alex was a fantastic guide and great company on my trip to the gulag museum and the ice caves. In Moscow also enough to see and do. After my days in Moscow, where your itinerary and service was finished, I booked myself an additional small pile of train tickets. I went to Kiev (stayed four days, well worth the extra stop!), then “station hopped” home without any more sightseeing stops: Kiev, Warsaw, Berlin, Cologne, Brussels, Eurotunnel to London, Cardiff, Fishguard…

Big big thank you once again. Is there anywhere I can leave a review for other people to read? Maybe on your Facebook page?

Best regards, spassiba!!

Saskia van Schip

Charles and I returned home yesterday. I want you to know that this was one fabulous experience.

Really, it was almost perfect. Everything was well thought out and executed. There was meticulous

attention to detail in organizing everything.

If you ever would like me to serve as a reference for your service and for the trip itself, do not

hesitate to contact me.

Stanton E. Samenow

Stanton E. Samenow

Just back this weekend from my travels over the last 5 weeks, the first part of which was the Trans-Siberian.

We just wanted to say huge thanks to you – and to Jo and to Jackie – for all your help.

You provide a truly great service – very efficient and helping us to get a really good sense in advance of what to expect. It was a great trip which we really enjoyed.

I’ve already recommended you to a number of friends and colleagues.

The Moscow-Beijing route that we travelled uses Chinese rolling stock. And so all the carriage attendants were male and Chinese – not quite what we were expecting but they were very pleasant and helpful nonetheless!

Thank you again to all of you,

Ian & Phil

Ian Costain & Philip Hickley

Hi Joanne & Odette,

I just wanted to say thanks for organizing the Trans-Siberian Rail Trip trip for me. I just arrived in Moscow and have been having a great time. Everything went incredibly smoothly. I appreciate your help planning everything. I ran into another of your clients along the way, they said the same thing.

Now, time to explore!

Regards, Quinton

Quinton Wall

Hello Russia Experience,

We are now in Shanghai. We had the most amazing time on the Trans-Siberian, what a great experience. The level of service and professionalism we had form yourselves continued through the whole trip. In particular the teams in Yekaterinburg and Ulaanbaatar were absolutely brilliant. I can’t believe the three weeks are over however we have memories to last forever. I would have loved to spend more time in Mongolia, so we might come back again for another adventure.

I will recommend you to all our friends and I write a travel blog and have given you a good mention.

Thank you so much,

Chris and Jane.

Christopher Freeman & Jane Henbest

Dear Jackie

Just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone. I had an absolutely amazing time. Everything went to plan, all the picks ups were on time and the guides were fantastic. A wonderful experience!

Judith Downes

Judith Downes

Hi Odette,

Just a quick note to say we’ve arrived home safely and had an absolutely fantastic time, the whole trip ran like a dream, the transfers and guides were superb, it was a great experience.

Thank you so much for your recommendations, the Golden Apple and the Khan resort (especially!!) were both brilliant.

Best wishes,

Damien & Sali Walsh

Mr & Mrs Walsh

Now that we have finished our journey across Asia, we wanted to email to thank you and your colleagues for the excellent arrangements which went without a hitch. It was a most wonderful and inspiring journey which was made the more enjoyable by knowing that we would be met and guided when it was crucial, but left also left to our own devices to explore places when it was prudent to do so.

In each place, your agents were most helpful, but we especially wanted to single out your Mongolian partners who went out of their way to make us welcome and explain to us a great deal about the country and its customs.

So, all in all, a great trip which we would recommend without hesitation: just the right blend of adventure and comfort! Thank you to all concerned.

With best wishes,

Robert & Louise

Robert & Louise

I got back to Bangalore on Aug 6th night, after a long flight from St. Petersburg. We had a fantastic time travelling across Russia. Enjoyed Moscow and St. Petersburg very much. Moscow is a grand beautiful city with a very good Metro. I liked St. Petersburg even better; smaller scale than Moscow, but more intimate and beautiful. I wish we had more time there.

The guides in Mongolia, Irkutsk, Ekaterinburg and Moscow were wonderful. I would like to see Lake Baikal and other parts of Russia in the winter. I will contact you when I am ready for that trip.

Ekaterinburg was a complete surprise. I had never heard of this city; it is a charming city, very European. Even old Irkutsk was beautiful with wide boulevards. Parts of the city was a bit faded, but you can still sense that this was a grand city one time. Russia was not the grim place portrayed by western media. It is a vast and beautiful country. People are intelligent and very hard working. They openly admit that 70 years of communism was a failed experiment and are ready to move forward. I do hope free market reforms will slowly take hold and they will prosper. It is clearly the most resource-rich country I have seen. It is also ethnically the most diverse country in the world. It needs a strong leader to bring the country together and in that sense Putin serves that purpose.

Russia is also a bargain to travel now, with the 65 rubles to a dollar. It is cheaper than travelling in India now. So was Mongolia, a beautiful country with very friendly people. I would love to explore Russia further.

Arakere,Nagaraj Keshavamurthy

We are back from our trip of a lifetime! I want to thank you and your team for the excellent service you gave to make this such a rewarding and memorable experience. My son and I had a flawless experience, without a glitch the entire trip. The sights, sounds, people and places filled in the rest. Thank you so much for taking care of the many details and especially it was a comfort to have our onward train tickets always awaiting us at the hotels when we arrived at our next destination. As you know, the route from Beijing to Moscow/St. Petersburg is totally unique and well worth it. Other than a rainy St. Pete, we had marvellous weather.

Here are some personal highlights from our trip. I was struck by the dearth of caucasians in China and Mongolia. Some days the only non-orientals were ourselves! Great to be immersed in another culture like that. In every big city Stephan and I did an urban run. What a great way to see a city at the street level and the people and all the energy as we ran anywhere from 3 kilometers to 10 kilometers at a go. You can imagine what it was like to run along Tianamen Square or around the Kremlin. One extra exciting run was at Ekaterineburg. The train had a 29 minute stop and the location of the Ipatiav House where the Romanov’s were murdered was 1.5 kilometers from the train station. We had to book it off the train, through the station, onto the main boulevard and down to the huge cathedral now on that a site. Take a few pictures and hustle back with a minute to spare before the train took off! The friends we made in wagon 6 on our trek across Siberia. There were many Brits, Canadians, and Aussies. Because we were all on the Trans-Sib/Mongolian, everyone had a sense of adventure. We were among kindred spirits. We shared stories, adventures, food, and vodka. And lots of conversation about about the Brexit vote and the results of Euro 16 football matches. Quality time for father and son with hours together in our compartment to talk, read, share and grow closer. Stephan speaks ChInese so he was a huge asset in China as well. A happy home away from home-coming as Sarah and Johan met us in Moscow. Good food and museums. My favorite museum is the Tretyakov and it was such a treat to view the works of Repin, Perov, Shishkin, and Lamonsov. The Mongolian steppes. The vistas were incredible and the time spent there, as well as sleeping in a ger was so memorable.

Thank you again for your service and care for our trip. We loved it and I am so grateful for your professional wisdom and handling of the details. You are the best and can highly recommend you to all.

Blessings abound,

Joel

The Quie Family

Hi all,

We just wanted to say a big thank you for all your help organising our trip. We had an amazing time, it was fantastic! We are already thinking of going back to Mongolia next year.

Many thanks again,

Di, Ron, India, Samuel and Andrew.

The Havards travelled April 2016

Dear Odette and Joanne,

Not sure if you meant it when you said you wanted some feedback but here goes. I’m on the penultimate day as we arrive in Vladivostok tomorrow. I must say I have thoroughly enjoyed it. Nothing like what I expected but it has been a great experience and although I wouldn’t repeat it I would certainly redo it. Siberia was much less sparse than I expected and the towns were much more modern than I had expected. It’s very much a tourist trip for tourists so I could imagine some people being disappointed if they were expecting purely a culture or a geographical trip. The organisation is outstanding,service is excellent, food is very good and the facilities far above what I could have imagined. The trip itself is a curious mixture of culture,cuisine,cities,concerts,folklore,geography, history ( lectures from a professor of Russian history), entertainment,adventure and I’m sure I forgot something.

Really wonderful. Thanks for your help in giving me this experience, Sincerely John

John (travelled Golden Eagle Imperial Class)

Hi Odette

We are leaving Beijing to continue our journey through China.

Many thanks for organising our trip on the trans siberian/mongolian we had a wonderful time.

Best regards

Howard and Alison Brett

Howard and Alison Brett

Wendy and I would both like to thank you and the Russian Experience team for a fantastic trip. The organisation of the trip was flawless, the walking tour guides were extraordinarily good and the accommodation was fine and always very conveniently located. The Ger Lodge in winter was amazing, especially the guy that came into the ger in the middle of the night to replenish the pot belly stove. On the first night he noticed my doona had slipped off so he tucked me in – its a long time since anyone has done that! The scenery passing through China, Mongolia and Russia was mesmerizing. Wendy and I spent hours looking out the train window watching the world go by.

Nicholas Mayman & Wendy Wise

Just a quick email as I am now in back in NZ!!

Wanted to say a huge thank you for all the help you guys gave me with the trip and the visas! and the patience you had with all my questions!!!! I had the best time and met some awesome people ???? you guys are the best and I would definitely recommend using your company to friends and anyone that asks really!

The guides I had were all amazing and the accommodation was pretty sweet too!!

Thanks so much! Jenna Thompson

Jenna Thompson

I wanted to tell you how much my wife and I liked the Tsars Gold Trans-Siberian railway trip. It was much better than I expected. Thanks so much for handling all of the arrangements for us. Everything worked out so well.

Since the end of the train trip we have been in Moscow for five days and are currently finishing up a visit to beautiful St Petersburg. Tomorrow we head to Copenhagen as we continue our three month journey.

Thanks again for all that you did on our behalf. Geoffrey Slaff

Geoffrey Slaff

Our itinerary was fulfilled without a wrinkle.

All services – transits, hotels, on-train facilities and guides were punctual and efficient.

We had no problems in meeting/being met by taxi drivers. Hotels were expecting us as paid-for guests. Guides were pleasant, knowledgeable and had good English. On-train we were surprised at being offered all we wanted. Indeed, the whole package was sound and recommendable.

We were pleasantly surprised with unexpected on-train facilities. Apparently, the 1st class, two-berth, on-train service includes one cooked meal daily and complementary daily supply of tea, coffee and chocolate. Boiling water for beverages is available all day and night in each car. Bedding – linen sleeping bag and two pillows – is free. On the older railway stock, on train 8, don’t expect to wash anything except hands and your plastic crockery and cutlery. Toilet paper is always availably, though not always paper towels, and the waste bins are emptied regularly.

At Irtkusk the local office manager is like no other manager. His appearance is that of a 1960s hippy – long hair tied into a pony-tail, short trousers, back-pack – but he is delightfully lucid, speaks excellent English, is clearly well-connected, is light hearted and very effective. The world needs more of his equal. The fresh water and very clear Lake Baikal is a treasure: It’s 636 km long, about 1650 m deep and has many species found nowhere else. No wonder it has internationally recognised status for scientific interest. The Baikal museum and aquarium is truly worth a visit.

Thanks for organising a most enjoyable and interesting tour.

Yours aye, Ian Fraser

Ian Fraser

Thank you for all your trip planning assistance. We just got home after a great and challenging trip. We added on 4 days in the Gobi ( flew there) at the end. All guides were wonderful except for Luda in St Petersburg. She had her agenda on what we should see and hear and wasn’t receptive to our agenda. Not a great problem as it was only for 3 hours.

Our home stay hostess, Olga, was a delight. Loved the visits to villages.

Now to read and reread Russian novels! Mongolia nomad stay was more challenging than we expected but in retrospect was a good experience. Family and guide were great.

Marilyn Thomas

Marilyn Thomas

Hi Russia Experience I’ve just finished the Trans Siberian with you and wanted to say a big thank you, I enjoyed every minute, and your local staff were superb. Thank you for your help.

Kind regards Paul Pennington

Paul Pennington

Hello Jo,It suddenly dawned on me that i have not thanked for all the help you gave Jodie whilst I was in hospital, so thanks very much I heard you went above and beyond giving Jodie advice unlike our travel insurance who were useless and gave bad advice.We are now in Mcleod Ganj in India just down the road from the Dalai Lama !!All the best,Kind regards,Dermot Carlin.

Dermot Carlin

We are freshly returned from our fantastic Trans-Siberian adventure. We would very much like to say a massive ‘thank you’.

We have had an amazing time. Everything was so well organised, we always felt looked after without feeling stifled or rushed about as you might on a fully managed/guided tour. We had plenty of time to do our own thing and the trips were always in very small groups (if not only the three of us!). The local guides at each location were fantastic. All really helpful and knowledgeable and ready to do that little bit extra (special thanks to the amazing Ulziimaa in Ulaanbataar!). As you may have guessed at an early stage I can be a bit of a nervous traveller but you reassured us at every step and everything was so well planned and organised, we really had nothing to worry about at all. I appreciate hugely the fact that every email and question I had was responded to and answered within minutes/hours, even when we were in China. I will (and already have done) unreservedly recommend you and your company to anyone considering travelling through Russia, Mongolia and China.

A truly amazing experience…thank you.

Alanna, Ralph and Nathan

Hello OdetteMy husband and I got back from our trans-Sib trip this week after a wonderful month away. There wasn’t a single hitch thanks to your organisation and we threw ourselves whole-heartedly into integrating with the ‘natives’. A totally memorable experience and lots of new friends gathered on the way.

Our warmest thanks,

Karen Grivel

Karen & Jacques Grivel

Hello Odette,Just a short note to tell you that our trip went beautifully. The organization was perfect; guides, hotels, etc. were all as expected. All in all a great experience. We are currently in Sydney, about to complete our journey around the world.

Thanks for all your troubles and for a wonderful experience.

Best regards,Carlos Ossenbach Sauter

Carols Ossenbach Sauter

Dear Jo, A long overdue email to you. My girls had a really tremendous trip. All down to you for incredible planning, great flexibility and astonishing action at short notice. This trip went from dream to execution in the space of 3 weeks. Your support in collecting Visas as the girls passports became available for days and hours was second to none. I have a forensic attitude towards service and product delivery and I rate you amongst the best I’ve encountered. It is without reservation that I recommend your product – you being an intrinsic part of it.

Kind regards, Lynda Warren

Jessica & Nanae Warren-Hart

We have been back home for nearly a month and I have neglected in thanking your company for such a well organised, interesting journey(Super Trans Mongolian) Charming personal guides who gave us a real feeling for their homelands. The most memorable days were at Elstei Ger and a day in the country with Constantine at Ekaterinburg. Both sister companies in these parts of the trip were excellent and I would be grateful if you could extend our thanks.

Bernadette & Joseph Skinner

I think that you should know that I have reached that time in life where I am not happy unless I can complain about something. Being a miserable old git gives me great pleasure. So let us start with the trip you arranged for the two Brians.First – Hotels; All excellent and situated conveniently close to the city centres and the main attractions. Staff very helpful even to the extent of supplying breakfast boxes on those mornings we left early.

City Walks; These added a whole new dimension to the tours as the guides were first rate and very well informed. We also found that they were happy to talk of present and past regimes which served to add colour to the situation and they were also well versed in the local customs. Without the guides the experience would not have been quite so rewarding.

Options; Not to be missed. Picnic at Lake Baikal and the trip to the Great Wall. Excellent guides and very well organised .

As promised we were always met as arranged . The drivers went out of their way to ensure that we were on time for our trains and they also made sure that we were safely on board before leaving. We were also lucky in meeting three others on the “experience” in Moscow who we were with until Beijing and so we had others to turn to when we were confused. ( Often at my age )

All in all it was a fantastic experience and one that I would not have wanted to miss at any cost. You have made two old men very happy.

My one and only complaint about the trip is that I have absolutely nothing about which to complain.

My thanks to you and all involved.

Brian Marchant & Brian Quance

We have arrived safely in Beijing and would just like to say a massive thank you for organising our Moscow to Beijing trip for us! Everything was on time and excellent! We were met at every station and the guides / helpers we had were fantastic!

We thoroughly enjoyed the hike round Lake Baikal (although the distances were a lot further than in the itinerary!!!!), and the walking guide Anton was both knowledgeable and chilled out, a great balance!

Mongolia was also an excellent experience, with the family stay being the highlight! Our guide Naki had endless information and was forever cheerful! A big thank you to him too!

The whole experience for us both was a very positive one and we will be sure to recommend your company to family and friends!! Once again, thank you to all the drivers, guides and yourself for an excellent service!